You Can't Keep a Legend in the Shadows for Long
by Mr. KP
Summary: Snake is a lonely, bitter and overall crabby man. When he is invited to the SSBB tournament, even he won't predict the impact his participation will have on the Smashers and himself. He may even gain some new friends...
1. A Bad First Impression

**So this is a story that I felt I should write, knowing that Snake, my favorite character in Smash Bros., sits at the top of the tier lists. Some Mario and Peach, the occasional Nana and Popo, maybe some Link and Zelda, you know, the usual. Please read and enjoy the story!**

* * *

He shouldn't have worn the suit.

Solid Snake was a man, and suits were definitely expected to come at least once in a man's life. Doesn't mean he liked 'em, necessarily. Now was one of those times.

Snake had been hiding underground for almost two years in the aftermath of the Big Shell "Incident", and he probably would've stayed that way, had he not received the letter.

The letter.

Most who had dealed with him knew that Snake was….well, he wasn't a people person. He came off as grumpy, maybe a little Scrooge-ish. He also wasn't one for comforting friends when they were down, or maybe going to a bar and hanging out…none of that. He was a stoic, serious man who liked to keep to himself, normally. Save for a select few, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who was contempt with him.

So why in the hell was he invited to one of the biggest events in the world?

Even he, in all his bitter crabbiness, had heard of the Super Smash Bros. Tournament. Every few years or so, fighters from across the land were brought to a mansion out in the nice, rural area of Smashville, where a raccoon named Tom Nook helped to finance and promote the tournament. Crowds from all over gathered to watch it. And who could blame them? The main attraction was the fact that the areas around the audience were holographically enhanced to look like an amazing stage, suited to whomever was fighting.

Problem was…Snake wasn't in their galaxy.

Although he felt undeserving, his "legend" status had reached all across the galaxy. He couldn't even begin to think of the challenges he had received from reputable fighters across the entire universe to come and fight them. Of course, he decline most of those, but he couldn't deny an interest that had been brewing deep, deep down to finally answer one of those. So, in a way, this tournament was a good thing….kinda.

There were two things that Snake disliked about this: One, the trip to Smashville. It required him to board a plane from New York to New Guinea, through fourteen individually marked doors into a room that contained a tiny shuttle that barely fit him (It had been built for animals to go into space), and when that four hour trip took him to the Mushroom Kingdom, he was ushered around for another couple hours by little men who looked strangely like mushrooms with bodies. They drove him to the gates of Smashville, where he was forced to walk through the town to the Mansion.

All of that in that damn suit…

Snake was wearing a white shirt with a black sports coat, matching tie and black slacks along with some Italian made black shoes. Sure, he looked nice, but it was hell to travel in. Add to that that he looked rather…haggard, his hair and beard being as they were, and he came off more as a grouchy hobo than a legendary warrior. At least the headband was in the tiny suitcase he had brought with him. If he'd worn that, people would be giving him a fortune in spare change.

So it was easy to imagine his relief when the large, large mansion came into view, in all its glory. Snake was fairly impressed by the mansion, and he was interested further to see as to what was inside the huge house. It took his mind off the odd denizens of the town, at the very least. The townspeople were oddly short and anthromorphic, something Snake certainly wasn't used to, and the fact that a giraffe was trying to get him wash her car really fast in exchange for a pair of pants didn't do much to help his overall uncomfortable feelings about the place.

But now he was finally at the grand double doors, doors that easily reached thirteen feet high and looked as if they cost a fortune in marble. Snake cleared his throat, straightened his tie and knocked gently three times. No answer. He once again knocked three times. No answer.

Now he was pissed.

Snake growled in frustration and went to slam the door with his palm when it suddenly swung open and he ended up smacking something else with his palm. And it certainly wasn't fine white marble, either.

He grimaced as he looked and saw the near unconscious form of a young man clothed in some sort of royal blue attire. He wore what appeared to be medieval clothes, including a blue cape and a tiara on his head. If Snake hadn't heard his cry of pain, he'd have thought it was a pretty young woman. Luckily, it wasn't.

He watched as the boy slowly rose to his feet, holding his nose. "Sir, the fighting doesn't start until Thursday! I'd have expected you to be able to hold your bloodlust, Mr…."

Snake rolled his eyes. What a nancy boy. "Snake. And please, don't call me Mr." he said plainly, rudely beginning to walk into the mansion and almost right over the poor young man he'd inadvertently struck.

"Sir Snake, I'd thought a warrior of your class would've-"

"I heard you the first time, and I _sincerely_ apologize that I accidentally brushed your face. Don't lose any of those blue locks over it." he answered in a way that only he could.

The boy looked offended. "Mr. Snake, is this how you always speak to royalty?!"

"Had no idea you were royalty, your majesty. And what did I say about Mr.?"

"Well, my name is Prince Marth of Altea, and I thank you for your correct wording. I accept your apology, and I hope to do honorable battle with you come Thursday." The boy replied, taking a small bow.

Someone needed to smack the concept of sarcasm into this kid.

"Please speak to the Princess Peach for quartering, as she is in charge of that. Also, please sign your name onto this sheet," he pointed to a small sign-up sheet that was mounted on the wall behind him, "and please enjoy your stay at the mansion." he bowed again and walked off, straightening his cape.

Snake nodded and watched him walk away. _"Well, he seems alright…for royalty."_ he thought as he signed his name on the aforementioned sheet. Above his neatly scripted "Snake", he scanned some of the other names. He'd of course heard of Mario, Link and some others, but he also saw some unrecognizable ones such as "Lucario" and "Lucas" and "Ness". _"Guess I'll have to scout competition more that I thought"_

He took a minute to look around the room, noting the beautiful black and white squared tile that stained the ground and the lavish purple drapes that hung over the two windows opposite the entrance. There was a spiral staircase in front of him, coated with some fine wood and decorated nicely with nice red steps. A high ceiling, maybe 25 ft. tops, vaguely waved at Snake. He nodded, impressed, and moved on to the foyer.

Marble coating greeted him as he walked on through the similarly decorated foyer into what looked like a sitting room. There were nice scarlet armchairs, a glowing fire that licked and crackled in a marble fireplace, and there was some literature in a series of small bookcases around the room. In one of the chairs was another figure.

She had long, golden blonde hair, a small crown perched atop the mass. A pink dress cascaded down her body, clinging tightly to her form and reaching her ankles, where he could see she wore nicely decorated white heels. She also sported elbow length white gloves, generic attire of royalty, he noted. She had a soft face and big lips with turquoise circles dangling from her ears. _"I wonder what Disney movie she's from…"_

Snake walked up close to her, her not noticing him because she was busy jotting down names on a map of the mansion. After two awkward minutes of her humming and Snake just quietly standing there, he loudly cleared his throat, finally getting her attention.

"Oh, hello there! You must be the famous Solid Snake, am I correct?" she asked in a very high pitched voice that sealed Snake's thoughts that she walked among Snow White and Cinderella in her homeland.

"Yes, that's right."

"Pleased to meet you! My name is Princess Peach, and I'm the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom." she announced, holding out her hand.

Snake shook it, and added, "Wouldn't that make you a Queen?"

Peach laughed, bringing her hands up to her mouth. "Oh, that was a funny joke! I'll have to keep my eye out for those!" she wheezed, almost out of breath from laughing so hard.

Snake was having a _really_ hard time thinking of why that was funny, especially when he was expecting an honest answer.

"I'm sorry, I was distracted from what's important." Peach said, wiping a stray tear from her large eye, "Now, Snake, you are one of the later arrivals, so you will be in the east wing, just up the stairs, in room 12. You'll be sharing the room with…"

Snake immediately interrupted her. "Is there any way I could get a room to myself?"

Peach looked up, "I'm sorry, the Master Hand said there was no exceptions. You must have a roommate. I apologize." she said sadly.

"Great…" He would have to remember that he was going to have to talk to the Master Hand.

"Now where was I…oh yes, you'll be sharing a room with Link. Once again, I apologize, but the rules are two people to a room. Here's your key." She finished, handing Snake a small, brass key with "12" engraved on it.

Better than nothing. Link was immensely famous for being a mute. "That's fine. I'll just go up there now." Snake said with a wave of his hand, clenching his fingers around the key and leaving the room, going back into the main hall before Peach could say anything.

He hastily walked up the stairs and to the right, where his room was supposed to be. He scanned the sky blue painted hallway, and saw room 12 four doors down on the left. He quickly walked down there, not seeing anybody else, and jammed the key into the lock, opening the door…

* * *

**Please read and review, and if I see some interest, I'll keep writing! Thanks!**


	2. Dumb Questions

He shouldn't have worn the suit

Snake was an easy man to please, as far as housing went. He was used to living in run down shacks and small houses with the bare minimum as far as furniture went. Thus it is easy to imagine how he was somewhat delighted at his room.

The room was easily 12x13, a gigantic king-sized bed loaded with blue silk sheets tucked into the corner. Next to that was a nightstand big enough to fit all his equipment, an oak wardrobe sat at the opposite wall. The room had been painted a nice red, and even better, there was ports for a lab top and other electronics. Snake might as well have been in heaven.

He finally wiped the stupid grin off his face long enough to put his suitcase down and undress, putting his suit in the wardrobe, hopefully to never wear it again. He threw on a more comfortable pair of black cargo pants and a grey sweater, along with his navy blue headband, which he felt would probably help people recognize him.

He slipped on the pair of gloves he usually wore, as to protect him from germs, and decided to at least greet Link. He walked over to the door about 25 feet from the bed he was sitting on and knocked gently three times, hoping he wasn't going to end up hitting anyone again.

Thankfully, Link answered on the first set of knocks. The boy was wearing his usual attire of a chain mail suit under a raggedy green tunic. However, he wasn't wearing his hat, as Snake could see it lying on the bed in the corner. Snake stared awkwardly until he finally said, "Uh…hi. My name is Snake. It's nice to meet you, I guess."

The older gentleman stuck out his hand, as if to shake. Link suddenly smiled brightly, and mimed a few signals which Snake recognized as sign language. One of the few languages he didn't know. At least he shook hands still.

Snake tried hard to come up with a good answer. "Link, listen, I, uh…I don't do the whole sign language thing, so um…is there any other way we can communicate?" he finally said.

Link smiled and motioned for him to wait, then quickly walked to his bed and picked up a small, handheld chalkboard. He than began to frantically write for about 30 seconds, then walked back. He held up the board to Snake.

"_Don't worry, I have this. It's an honor to meet you, Solid Snake. I've often dreamed of the day"_

After Snake motioned that he had read the word sequence on there, Link erased it with his forearm and wrote again. He once again held up his sign,

"_that I would finally fight you. Your story is oft passed down in Hylian Legend."_

Snake kind of scoffed, somewhat shocked that his exploits were "Hylian Legend". Whatever the hell that meant. "Listen, I just want you to know that I'm fine with the fact that you're my roommate, but I also would like you to respect my privacy. AKA, knock only in case of emergency and wake up calls. Got it?"

Link quickly scribbled, _"I understand. I'm sorry if I've offended you in some way."_

Snake frowned. "No, I'm not mad, I just-"

A large bell suddenly rang throughout the house, alerting Snake. "What the hell…?!"

Link went to his chalkboard. _"Do not be frightened, it is only the dinner bell."_

Snake got out of the tentative fighting crouch he had dropped into, somewhat embarrassed at his reaction. "O-oh…well, in that case, lead the way." he said, standing to the side of the doorway and motioning for him to walk outside.

Link nodded and left to grab his hat, and after putting it back on, he walked outside and motioned for Snake to follow.

"_Why did he think I was mad? Did I sound mad? Maybe I did…but I-I didn't mean to…"_

Snake pushed that thought out of his mind when he smelled the hands down most delicious thing he'd ever smelled. He didn't even know what it was, but he knew that he was going to devour it. He eagerly followed the Hylian down the exquisite staircase and through the sitting room to the dining room area.

It reminded Snake of some fine French restaurants he had visited in his day. Finely made Persian carpet, blue drapes over the three windows that were in the room and jazz music playing...Snake as now beginning to consider sneaking in every year for one meal…

Link again motioned for Snake to follow, and he did so, walking into a buffet area, where Link handed him a plate. Snake nodded in thanks, than looked over his choices.

There was steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos, cuisine, spaghetti, lasagna, pizza…everything Snake could imagine was lined up to eat. Pastries were at the end, and he spotted French bread and chocolate doughnuts among them. Mouth already watering, he began to pile up food on his plate.

Snake grabbed a steak, two tacos, barbecued chicken, grape juice and a strawberry French bread roll and followed Link once again to a table, one that already had inhabitants. The table looked nice with a royal purple tablecloth, and matching napkins and candle.

Snake nervously looked around, recognizing Princess Zelda of Hyrule and Princess Peach immediately. He wasn't quite sure who the other three were, but Peach was about to change that.

"Ah, Snake, so glad you could join us! I've see you've already met Link, so let me introduce you to everyone else! This is Princess Zelda, of Hyrule,"

Zelda stood up and extended her fingers toward Snake's. Snake was bedazzled by the beautiful purple dress and exotic jewelry that adorned her figure. He gently shook her fingers and introduced himself. "I'm Snake. An honor to meet you, Princess Zelda."

"The honor is mine, Snake. It's splendid that such a renowned fighter traveled all this way to attend our little tournament." Zelda said, her speech showing her overall elegance.

Peach continued once Zelda was finished, "This is Ike, and he's from Crimea on the Continent of Tellius."

The young, blue-haired man stood up. Snake noted that he looked noticeably battle torn, his cape and headband tattered and torn, as was his tunic. A warrior, no doubt.

"Snake, a pleasure. We will no doubt meet in the tournament, and may the best man win when that time comes." he shook Snake's hand and sat back down.

"Following him, this is Captain Falcon of Mute City and Samus Aran, the bounty hunter." Peach finished.

Captain Falcon stood up, the sheer size of the man surprising Snake. "Good evening, Snake. I've heard rumors of your strength, and I'm glad you're hear so I can see it for myself." he finished coolly. Snake shook his hand, getting a free finger crack from it.

Snake had of course heard of Samus, but he had expected a power suit-equipped warrior, not the curvy young blonde that greeted him.

"It's nice to meet you, Snake," were the only words she said before she sat back down. Snake nodded and finally took that as his cue to sit down. He did so and dug in to his food.

For about 4 minutes no one said anything, before Peach finally asked a dumb question. "So, Snake, I'd heard that you were forced to fight your father to the death when you were younger. How did that feel?"

If Snake had longer arms, he might've hit her hard upside the head.

Snake stopped eating and looked up at her. "Imagine finding out that your father whom you've never known is a twisted maniac bent on taking over the world. Then imagine his face being crushed by your fist. That's about how it felt." he said coldly.

Peach gulped and took a drink of her water, realizing that may have not been the best question. She kept her mouth shut, but the bad questions kept coming.

Ike swallowed a piece of chicken and asked, "Snake, is it true that you slaughtered 120 men to get to the heart of a mercenary base?"

Had the whole world gone crazy?

Snake, now noticeably irritated, growled and picked up his plate and juice. "If you'll excuse me, I'm done for the night." He walked away, leaving his fellow smashers in shock at the abruptness of his leave.

Samus leaned over to look at Ike. "Fantastic question, Ike. Maybe you can ask him how he felt killing all those people." Samus said, bitterly cutting down Ike.

Ike had a small blush on his face. "I-I only tried to make conversation, and I didn't think…"

"Well, maybe it's not the best idea to not think, Ike," the fair Princess Zelda replied. Link nodded his head in agreement, as did Falcon. "Asking someone how many people they've killed is an uncomfortable question, no matter how you ask it..."

* * *

Snake threw his food away and decided to go outside and have a smoke. He ran upstairs and grabbed his cigs, then stepped outside of his room and back down the stairs, opening the front door slightly.

Snake couldn't describe the immense feelings of pleasure he got from taking in the first inhale of a cigarette. It was euphoric, yet he still didn't know why. However, before he could enjoy the moment, Link tapped him on his shoulder.

Snake turned around and saw Link scribbling on his chalkboard.

"_Please forgive Ike. He is not very good at minding the feelings of others." _it said.

Snake took a long drab and then gave his answer. "Tell him that I don't appreciate any personal questions, and that he would be wise not to ask them again."

"_O.K." _With that, Link went back to the dining room.

Snake took two more long drabs before heading back inside and closing the door. He walked back to his room and turned off the light on the way in. He collapsed on the bed, fully clothed.

"_I guess meatheads like him aren't sure what to keep to themselves." _he thought as the darkness of sleep began to overtake him.

Within moments, he was asleep.


	3. Reluctant Partner

Snake awoke to someone tapping his forehead at a rapid pace. He woke up, startled, only to see Link's figure jump back in surprise.

Snake sighed and stretched. "So, what is it? What did you wake me up for?"

Link snatched his chalkboard off the stand next to the bed and scribbled, _"The Opening Ceremonies are in 1 hour, so I thought I should warn you."_

"Thanks for the tip." Snake groaned as he rolled off the bed. He quickly sprinted to the bathroom that the two shared, located on Link's side of the room, and ran in. He shut the door and turned on the shower as he undressed.

After finally throwing off his headband, he hopped in the shower and let the warm, smooth water relax him, calm him. However, the more comfortable he got, the more he began to think about the previous night.

"_Ike…he should learn to mind his own business. Does he think I'm proud of the fact that I'm a hired killer? That I was born unnaturally only to end up slaying the man who supplied my genes? Does he!?"_

Snake quickly opened his eyes as he realized that he was wasting time thinking about nothing. He quickly finished his shower, soaping himself and shampooing his hair, before hopping out and rapping a towel around his waist. He threw open the door and went back to his side.

Link was still standing there, kind of looking around. He moved out of the way when Snake barged in and went for his suitcase. Before doing anything, he turned to Link.

"Is there any kind of dress code for this Opening Ceremony?"

Link wrote, _"They want us to appear tournament ready. Take that as you will."_

Snake shrugged and grabbed his sneaking suit and all the accessories that went with it, and then rushed to the bathroom again, emerging fully clothed, bandanna included.

Link applauded earnestly, earning a small grin from Snake. "So, Link, am I just supposed to go downstairs, or is there someplace I need to go?"

Link pointed down, which Snake took as downstairs. He gave thumbs up in response and walked out the door, Link close behind.

* * *

They went downstairs and into the sitting room, where all the smashers had gathered. For most, this was Snake's first time seeing them. Link walked in front of him and over to Princess Zelda, where she gave him a quick hug.

"Oh, Snake! I haven't gotten to introduce you to everyone yet! Come, come!" Zelda shouted joyfully. Snake rolled his eyes and followed the glowing Princess's trail.

She led him to a big gorilla wearing a tie and a chimp wearing a hat and shirt. Snake recognized them very well.

"Snake, meet Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, from the Jungle Japes." Zelda introduced.

Donkey offered a fist. "Was' up 'wit it, holmes?"

Snake tried as hard as he could to remember the stuff he'd seen from _Boyz 'n the Hood_.

Snake pounded the fist. "What's crack-a-lacking?"

Donkey and Diddy erupted in giggles and laughter. "This old guy's gotta work on his skills, Big D!" Diddy said, still giggling like a little girl.

"I know, little D, I know! Yo, old dude, no offense taken, sir. Jus' remember that we a pair that can take it to ya hard, and before you know it…BOOM! Bannana Slamma!" Donkey exclaimed, using his hands to heighten the excitement of his speech.

Snake was noticeably nervous. "I'll remember that, boys. Thanks." he muttered, wanting to leave very badly.

The two primates walked away, so Zelda continued her impromptu tour. She led him over to two anthromorphic animals, a fox and a blue jay.

"Oh, Fox and Falco! You have to meet Solid Snake!" she called to them as she approached.

The two animals spun around. Fox looked noticeably awestruck. "Oh…oh! Oh my god! You…you're Solid Snake! Dude, we read about you all the time over in the Lylat System!" he spouted, shaking Snake's hand to a huge degree.

"Uh, thanks…Fox, is it?" Snake replied.

"Yeah, yeah! Falco, this is the guy I told you about, who sunk that tanker in the biggest Earth city by himself!" Fox yelped to his grumpy parter/rival next to him.

Falco stepped up, giving a sly eye to Snake's figure. "He don't look so tough, Fox. Sure he ain't just a chump looking to get whooped?" he said, noticeably trying to intimidate Snake.

"_Amateur…"_ Snake took a step closer to Falco, growling. "Say that again…I dare ya."

Falco gulped and took a step back. "Not worth my time, pal. Keep walkin'!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought…" Snake grumbled as he skulked away, Zelda frantically trying to defend him.

"I'm sorry, he's really quite friendly once you get to know h-Wait Snake, wait for me!" she called, trying to keep up with the soldier's steady pace.

Before he could meet anyone else, a sudden announcement rang through the mansion. "Attention all contestants! The Opening Ceremonies will start soon, so please proceed to the Smash Hall adjacent to the Mansion. Thank you."

"Oh, it's time! Come along, Snake!" Zelda quickly said, already starting to walk away.

"_She's pretty quick for being in a dress and heels…"_ he thought. Link passed him by and grabbed his arm, as a sign to follow. Snake did so, trying to avoid getting trampled by the 30+ rushing for the exit.

* * *

Once they reached the front patio, it got a lot less crowded, and suddenly, Snake felt a mighty wind about his legs. He looked down to see an unfortunate face.

"Hey, Snake! Long time no see!" said the immediately recognizable blue blur known as Sonic.

"_Oh, Christ, not you…"_ Snake had never really liked Sonic. Unbeknownst to many, they lived on the same Earth, except Sonic stuck to Chicago, in Station Square, while Snake lived in New York. They had come across each other a few times during routine Philanthropy missions for Snake, and each time, he had done something to annoy him. Like the time Snake was trying to pass through a Chicago street unnoticed and Sonic was running so quick he knocked Snake over, and then as soon as he got up he tripped again and spilled the drink he was carrying all over him.

"Oh…Sonic. So awesome to see you." Snake said in a very droll voice.

"You too, man! So how does it feel to be the outsiders in the Nintendo Alliance's playground?"

The Nintendo Alliance was the names given to certain allied lands and planets of the Milky Way galaxy, with Zelda, Peach, General Pepper and Queen Elincia being the current council leaders. Snake and Sonic were from Earth, which was in a different area of the galaxy, and thus were outside the Alliance territory. This was supposedly done to bring in more viewers.

"Why do you ask? Got cold feet?"

"What!? No! If anything, my feet are on fire from running so fast! I'm just saying, aren't you even a little unease being in hostile territory?"

"I make a living off of being in hostile territory. I've grown used to it." Snake answered plainly.

"Huh, says you. Well, gotta jet!" and he was off.

"Good, he's gone." Snake mumbled as the group walked towards a large, new building.

The Smash Hall was the name given to the area where the combatants trained, but whenever there was a big press conference, it was held there. It was a fairly large building, about the size of a football stadium, and the inside was decorated with various murals of past and present fighters. State of the art equipment was littered around, ensuring that a great workout was to be had here.

The Smashers filed into the building, and Snake was alarmed to see a giant Hand standing…or floating at a podium amidst a sea of crazed fans, among them journalists and reporters.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Allow me to introduce this year's contestants!" the hand boomed once they entered and took seats in a mess of chairs that were behind the podium. Snake took a seat next to Link and Zelda. Sitting opposite him was a young boy wearing a large yellow backpack, a red and white had and a matching shirt with some blue jeans. Snake had seen him, but couldn't put a finger on who he was…

"Now, this year, we have two very special contestants! Solid Snake and Sonic, please stand up!" Master Hand commanded. Snake and Sonic did so to a loud applause from the crowd in front of them. Once they sat back down, the Hand resumed talking.

"Now, I said I had another surprise ready for this ceremony, and I always deliver, so here it is! This year, we are abandoning the forms of past tournaments and are doing a doubles tournament! In this tournament, pairs teams will be competing for the grand prize! And today, we are going to announce the pairs via a random drawing!" he shouted, to the surprise of everyone.

Immediately, all the Smashers went into a frenzy. "They didn't tell us about this!" Fox yelled, joining almost all the other Smasher's similar complaints.

The Hand shushed them as a large screen descended from the ceiling. It showed two boxes with questions marks in them.

"Now, the first pair…"

* * *

After almost an hour, the pairs were all done. They were currently displayed on the big screen.

_Sonic/Ike_

_Mario/Lucas_

_Ness/Pikachu_

_Link/Jigglypuff_

_Zelda/Snake_

_Bowswer/Ganondorf_

_Marth/Captain Falcon_

_Peach/Meta-Knight_

_Wario/Wolf_

_Fox/Mr. Game and Watch_

_Falco/R.O.B._

_Samus/Toon Link_

_Pit/Luigi_

_Nana/Popo_

_Donkey Kong/King Dedede_

_Kirby/Diddy Kong_

_Olimar/Wario_

_Yoshi/Lucario_

Everyone was getting acquainted up on stage with their partners, familiar or new. Snake stood up and walked a few steps to the Princess Zelda.

"Snake, I'm honored to be your partner. May our partnership bring us glory in battle and renown throughout the galaxy!" she chirped, extending her hand.

Snake slowly nodded and shook her fingers, immediately feeling the blinding flash of cameras as that happened. Slightly behind them, Link had a sad look on his face.

Once the flash effect wore off, Snake began to think about the situation. He had watched the last tournament, and Zelda had performed quite badly, ranking about 18th of 25. Hopefully, she had improved in the past few years…

* * *

Hours later, when the conference was over and everyone had returned home and ate a hearty dinner (Snake eating alone with Zelda, who had insisted on sitting with him), Snake had returned to his room, sitting on his bed and fiddling with his laptop, where he had pulled up a secure connection chat with one of his true friends, Hal Emmerich, also known as Otacon.

_O: So, Snake, how goes it?_

_S: Okay. Some idiots, some decent folks. Can't complain, overall._

_O: That's good. Do you have the Codec on? I've had Mei Ling run background checks on all the smashers, so if you ever need advice, feel free to contact her at 140.96._

_S: I'll do that. Well, it's been a long day, Otacon. I think I'll sleep. Good talking._

_O: Same here, and good luck, Snake!_

_User Otacon has signed off._

Snake sighed and closed his labtop, unplugged the wires that ran to the wall, then put it back on his bedstand. He went into the bathroom and changed into more comfortable night wear, which for him was what he wore the previous night, as it were.

He was about to go to bed when he heard a knock on his door. _"Probably Link."_ he thought as he went for it. He opened it up see he was half right, as Link and Zelda stood at the door. Link was dressed in his usual attire, but Zelda wore what looked like royal pajamas, consisting of a nicely decorated linen shirt, pajama pants that had royal signatures all over them, and her auburn hair fully undone, it reaching down to about her lower back.

"Hello, Snake. I came to have a small chat. May I come in?" the princess asked nicely.

"Uh, sure. Of course." Snake said awkwardly, stepping back to let the two in. Link flashed some sign language to Zelda. "Okay, I'll see you in the morning, Link! Good night, and sweet dreams!" she said, giving Link a hug and a kiss on his cheek, making the elven boy blush quite a bit. He went through the doorway to his side and closed the door.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Snake asked as Zelda took a seat on his bed.

"Link? Oh, heavens, no. He's kind of like an older brother…he's always been there for me when I needed help." she said, pulling some of her hair from her face, "Listen, Snake, I wanted to talk to you about the tournament…"

Snake took a seat next to her, "So what's up?"

"Well…I just wanted to say to please don't think of me as a liability. I've improved much over last year, but I fear I may not be up to your standards. In any case, I feel that if we use teamwork, we really do have a shot at winning this year. So please…just try to smile more and be happy, okay?" she took a long breath after talking.

Snake looked at her like she was on drugs. "Zelda, if anything, I might not be up to your standards. The man is no match for the legend, I'm afraid. I would I hope I do good, but don't blame me if I'm not. And I'm sorry, but I'm not the Sally Sunshine and Johnny Smiles-a-Lot that Link is, so just stop it." Snake answered in an angry tone.

Zelda bit her lip and tried hard not to cry. "Okay, Snake, I understand. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to inflict emotional harm. I'll leave now. Good night." she got up and quickly began to leave. Snake stood up just as she left.

"Wait, Zelda! I…Damn!" He punched his bed hard, making it spring down noticeably.

"_Why did I do that!? She was only trying to be nice to me, and I…I shouldn't have said that…I should probably go talk to her in the morning…"_

With that, he lay his head on the pillow, closed his eyes, and resumed to his normal night of nightmares and regrets.


	4. Preliminary Match

**Mad shout outs to all my reviewers! You guys rock!**

* * *

"_I'm a prisoner of death…only you can free me!"_

"_Snake, we're not tools of the government, or anyone else!__Fighting_

_was the only thing... the only thing I was good at, but... At least I always fought for what I believed in...Snake…farewell."_

"FOX!!"

Snake sat up quickly, sweating hard and breathing erratically. Then, realizing it was only a dream, he laid back down and ran a gloved hand through his sweat-drenched hair.

He turned to his side to see Link standing next to his bed. "Sorry if I woke you…it was a nightmare." he explained.

Link scribbled, _"I noticed. At first, I thought you were talking about Fox McCloud."_

"Heh. No, I was…talking about someone else. Just…gimme a minute to center myself." Snake replied, still shaking. He reached for his cigarette's and popped one into his mouth. He lit it and took in the orgasmic first drag. Sighing with relief, he blew the smoke out and leaned against the wall next to his bed.

He looked to see Link holding up his chalkboard, _"Would you like breakfast? They're serving it downstairs."_

Snake nodded, "Sure, Link. Coming with?"

Link nodded, so Snake got up and headed out the door, his elven companion close behind.

As Snake stumbled through the hall, he began to think about the previous night, and how rude he was to Zelda. _"I'm lucky she didn't order anyone to chop my hand off…I'm such an idiot! Mouthing off to a royal figure…"_

Those thoughts cleared up when he entered the cafeteria and smelled freshly cooked eggs and sausage. Sold, he quickly scooped up a plate and filled it with said eggs and sausage, along with some buttermilk pancakes.

He took his tray to the table he had sat at the previous night's dinner, Link joining him this time. They ate in silence for a few minutes, when Zelda suddenly plopped down in the seat next to Snake, no tray in hand.

"Snake, I…" she started, her eyes moist.

"No, Zelda, listen. Last night, I was a jerk. I never should've said what I said, especially to someone of your, uh, stature. So, I'm…sorry." Snake muttered awkwardly, interrupting Zelda.

Snake looked at Zelda, seeing her expression noticeably change from melancholy to extremely happy within seconds. "That means a lot, Snake…thank you." she said, a smile that could melt the ice caps adoring her face.

Even Snake couldn't hide the blush that began to creep across his cheeks. Zelda, although way too young for him, was a very cute girl, and the adoring look she was giving him was embarrassing.

"So…uh, what did you want to do today?" Snake asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Well, I thought that we need to train. The tournament starts tomorrow, yet we have yet to actually watch each other's styles. If we don't, we could have bad teamwork that could ultimately hinder our progress." she said, her sentence fluency and dialect again impressing Snake.

"Sounds good to me, Zelda. Link, do you wanna join us?" Snake asked his silent friend.

Link nodded, a smile on his lips. "Good. Bring your partner…who was it again?" Snake asked.

"Jigglypuff." Zelda answered for him. Snake immediately thought of Kirby for about a minute, before he realized Jigglypuff was the other annoying puffball that roamed the halls.

"I see. Well, good luck with that. You should grab some food, Zelda, it's really good." Snake said, his mouth full of pancakes and egg.

"I think I will. Link, would you like to join me?" she asked, which was followed by a smile and nod from Link.

As they left, Snake laughed. "He's at her beck and call…typical male."

* * *

After breakfast was over, Snake and Zelda met up again, this time outside of the Smash Hall. Snake noticed that Zelda had fully braided her hair, instead of doing a small braid at the bottom of her hair. She had also replaced her heels with boots, which Snake thought was a pretty good idea.

Soon enough, they were joined by Jigglypuff and Link, the former beginning to pull out a microphone before Link quickly took it away from it. Jiggs huffed in anger as they walked inside.

The state of the art room still floored Snake, with holographic simulators, advanced weight sets and a large obstacle course adorning the room. You didn't see anything like this back on Earth.

"Okay, so we need to turn on these simulators." Zelda said as she walked over to a switch on the far wall of the facility. She flicked it, and the stage known as Final Destination suddenly popped up around them. Snake was startled at the realism, realizing that he could still fall off the edge, even though they were still on the floor.

"Now, I say that we have a preliminary match now, to see how our styles mesh, Snake. Link and Jigglypuff, please don't hold back!" she said, waving to them.

Link drew his Master Sword and Jiggly put away the microphone. Link broke into a sprint, and the fight was on.

* * *

Link attacked first, hurling his gale boomerang at Zelda. She managed to sidestep it, only for it to careen into Snake, who was startled by the impact. He flew back, almost off the edge, to his chagrin.

Jigglypuffy immediately took to the air and begun to unleash an aerial flurry of kicks and straight punches at Zelda, who had a hard time defending against them. Before long, the exchange got the better of her, and she was flung to the other side of the platform, near Link.

Snake recovered from the boomerang attack long enough to pull a grenade from his belt, pull the pin and hurl it towards Link, who caught it, only for it to explode in his hand. Jigglypuff moved in quick to capitalize, but Snake managed to grab it and pull off a CQC toss that sent the puffball flying back behind Snake and off the platform.

Zelda had recovered from Jiggly's aerial barrage and was feverishly going after Link, throwing fists fueled with magical energy and quick blasts of electrical magic from her palms. Link, still wounded from the grenade blast, was taking a beating until he managed to counter with a straight kick to her stomach, then a long sword swipe that managed to knock her into the shielding that represented a K.O.

She came back in on a platform that descended from the ceiling and came down, using her temporary invincibility to stop Jigglypuff from getting back on the platform by jumping twice, to Snake's amazement, and giving a straight kick that connected with the heel, shocking Jigglypuff and sending it off the platform and towards a K.O.

Snake got over his initial shock of the double jump to try it himself, seeing that he could do it too. Using this, he pulled out another grenade and jumped, then hurled it, sailing it over Zelda and into Link, who was again hit by the explosion, which allowed Zelda to perform a quick burst electrical blast that K.O.'d Link.

Jiggs had since recovered and started to sing, Snake suddenly feeling his eyes droop and before long, he was asleep. What woke him was an unpleasant burning as Jiggly used his Rest move to send Snake sailing way high into the air, past the K.O. barrier, where he could be seen in the background as a tiny dot that blinked out.

This left Zelda in a bad position, as Jiggs began to charge his roll maneuver and Link began sprinting towards her. She nervously looked to both sides before she finally decided to use her Farore's Wind to warp high into the air, making Jiggs roll into Link, which sent him way off the edge, too far for him to recover, to which he fell into K.O. territory.

Jiggly was so stunned she didn't hear a newly revived Snake sneak up behind her and plant a C-4 bomb on her ear. By the time she realized it, Snake had the detonator in his hands. He smiled, threw the bomb in the air and yelled, "Now!" and pressed the red button, causing Jigglypuff to fly up in the air and off the map.

Snake laughed, making the mistake of looking up. For right above him was Link, bringing his sword down with both hands. Snake was now being shot through the air at a dizzying pace. Zelda managed to get a bit of revenge when she leapt forward and grabbed him, stepping on him with magic powered stomps, then nailed him with a sweeping magic palm, making him fly into the air as well.

Snake landed hard on the ground, groaning in pain. He looked up to see a timer that showed that there was 1:00 minute left in the bout, with the two teams tied at 2 apiece.

He quickly sprinted over to Zelda while their opponents where in the air, and frantically whispered, "I'll stick a bomb on you, and you hit one of them so it flies off and sticks to them!" Zelda nodded quickly, and Snake stuck the bomb on her gold shoulder pad.

Thankfully, they finished before Link and Jiggs landed. Link pulled out a bomb and tossed it, but Zelda and Snake both dodged. That's when they made their move.

Zelda jumped in between the middle of their opponents, allowing Link to strike her with his fist. What he didn't notice was that Zelda stuck the bomb that was on her shoulder onto the underside of his forearm. As she was sent sailing, Snake ran and did a diving roll into the two, like a bowling ball knocking down two pins for a spare.

As Link went soaring, Snake quickly pulled out his detonator and pressed the button again, managing to glimpse the explosion and the faint outline of Link before he blinked out of the background. The K.O. came at 0:03 seconds left, which gave the match to Zelda and Snake.

* * *

Snake was a mess. Breathing heavily and sweating like a pig, he crawled along the floor of the platform as the hologram of Final Destination fell away, giving way to the familiar red carpet of the Smash Hall. His partner was in similar shape, her braid slightly undone, her hair sticking out and bangs drooping into her face. Jigglypuff looked okay, save for a few bruises on its face, and the inconspicuous look of anger on its face. Link was hurt, with burn marks on his body and still jittery from the electric shocks of Zelda.

"That…was…great!" Zelda said, helping Snake up.

"Yeah…it was rough. One of the hardest things I've ever done." Snake wheezed, desperately trying to get a breath.

Link only nodded in agreement, and Jiggs still looked mad. Snake stretched a bit, then began to head for the shower area. Link followed him.

"You two go on ahead, I'll stay here with Jigglypuff and get some of my breath back!" Zelda called to the two men as they walked away.

They entered the door labeled "Men" and quickly ran for the sink. Snake ran his hands under the faucet, the cold water streaming into his cupped hands. He quickly threw the water back in his face, then repeated the process about three or four more times before he was fully satisfied.

"Link, are you okay?" he asked his roommate, who looked like he had just walked through a minefield. Link managed a wink and a small smile, something Snake had tremendous respect for. The man was hurt, but he wasn't going to whine about it. "Glad to see it." he said as he walked out of the room while Link attended to his various burns.

As Snake walked out of the bathroom, he saw Zelda and Jigglypuff being talked two by two suspicious fellows. One was about 9 feet tall, and looked strangely like a dragon and turtle hybrid. The other was about 7 feet tall, and had a long scarlet cape with gold decorations on. Snake quickly hurried over.

On closer inspection, he recognized King Bowser and Ganondorf, two nefarious criminals who had somehow been paired up by the random drawing. Zelda was cowering in front of them, holding Jigglypuff in her arms, the puffball burying its face in her shoulder.

"So what's a B-E-A-utiful Princess like you walking around all alone in the training hall? With the little cotton candy thing, too!" Bowser taunted. Ganondorf laughed an evil laugh and added to the abuse.

"Yes, it would be a shame if something were to happen to you so soon before the competition…" he smiled a sick grin and grabbed Zelda's cheeks, forcing her to look at him, despite how much she tried to turn away.

"Hey!" Snake yelled, fed up with the two bullies. They turned around at the same time.

"Well, welly, well, well! The 'Legend' finally shows his face!" Bowser roared, "Let's see if you got the guts to fight me up front instead of skulking around all the time, like a rat!"

Snake knew that he was outnumbered, and even if Link came out of the bathroom, they were in no condition to fight the two tyrants. He decided to be diplomatic about the situation.

"Why don't you guys just leave those two alone, and go pick on someone your own size?" he growled.

"Good idea." Ganon smirked, taking small steps towards Snake. Snake clenched his fists and slid his right foot back, ready to strike if the evil thief tried anything.

Instead, he just stared over the mercenary, walking in a circle around him. "Hmm, not bad. Some high-tech equipment, obviously ahead of my time. Don't think, however, that these toys will help you beat us, Solid Snake. It'll come down to raw strength in the end…something that you lack, judging by the amount of equipment you have…" Ganon commented.

Snake growled again. "You talk big for a guy who was beaten by a rural farm boy with a sword and a shield. Got any other snide comments, big guy?" Snake answered right back.

Ganon simply smiled and laughed, before suddenly giving Snake a big kick in the chest, sending him flying into the wall next to Zelda and Jigglypuff, who yelped in surprise.

"How was that, little man? It'll only get 10 times worse if you EVER cross our paths again." Ganon said as he adjusted his cape and turned around, walking out of the facility.

"Yeah, don't mess with us, unless you're looking to get burned!" Bowser yelled, spitting a few flames dangerously close to Zelda and Jiggs. Before long, they both had left.

Zelda composed herself and crawled over to Snake. "Are you alright, Snake!?" she frantically asked the fallen soldier.

Snake groaned. His chest was on fire, and he felt like his lungs had collapsed. Maybe broken a rib or two. _"Jesus, what power…and me, the insignificant flea in it all…"_

"Yeah, I'm fine, Zelda. Are you okay?" he asked, huffing in a big breath of air as he sat up.

"I'll be fine. Those two bullies really get on my nerves! Why can't they just leave me alone…" she sobbed, tears flowing from her serene eyes. Jiggs looked sad too as it slowly waddled towards them.

Link came out of the bathroom, unaware of what just happened. He realized it soon enough and he came sprinting over to Snake and Zelda.

He quickly mimed some signals to Zelda. "No, it was Ganondorf and Bowser. They came in and were bullying us, but Snake tried to stop them…"

Link nodded and went over to Snake, examining his body. He then offered his hand, which Snake gladly took as he stood up, a hand on his injured chest.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." Snake said as Link and Zelda each took one arm over their shoulders, on their way back to the mansion.

* * *

Some time later, Snake sat in his room, shirtless. He was applying layer after layer of bandages to his injured ribs and chest, along with patching up some minor wounds from the preliminary bout he had with Link and Jigglypuff.

Zelda and Link had taken him to the infirmary, where the Clefairy in charge diagnosed him with bruised ribs. _"What a great way to start the tournament."_ he thought as he finished his bandaging job.

He stood up and put his sweater back on and walked into the hallway. Fox was there, along with Ike.

"Wow, those two jerks did that to you? Some people, man…" Fox muttered in anger.

"What dishonorable louts. I hope someone knocks them out in the first round. Those two, along with that obnoxious penguin king and the fat, mustached man think they own everything around here." Ike snorted, not afraid to show his dissatisfaction.

"Thanks guys, but I don't need your sympathy. I'll just beat the living hell out of those two when I meet them in the tournament. No cheap shots next time." Snake mumbled as he quickly threw a few one-two punches in the air.

"Well, I best be getting to bed. Big day tomorrow, and I need to be fully rested." Ike said, shaking Fox and Snake's hands as he left.

"I'm hitting the hay too. I've got a feeling I may have a doosy of a first match. What are you gonna do, Snake?" the vulpine pilot questioned.

"I'll probably go to bed too. I had a long day of fighting, and these ribs need as much time as possible to heal."

"Sounds good. Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Take it easy, man."

"You too, Fox."

The pilot walked down the hallway and into his room and just as Snake was heading into his room, he saw Zelda in the hallway, still dressed in her fighting attire.

"Snake, are you going to bed so soon?" she asked, her face and hair still reflecting battle scars.

"Yeah, I need all the rest I can get. Good luck tomorrow, and remember: Teamwork above all else. We did awesome today because we functioned so well as a team. If one of us sinks, then we're both dead weight." Snake could give an aspiring speech when he needed to.

"You're absolutely right, Snake! Good night and I'll see you in the morning, bright and early!" Zelda chirped, running up to him and giving him a small hug…that made him cry out in pain.

"Uh…Zelda, ribs. Bruised." he managed to choke out.

"Oh!! Sorry…" Zelda blushed as Snake took a few quick breaths from his almost empty lungs.

"It's fine."

Zelda smiled and stood on her tip toes, giving him a small peck on the cheek. Snake didn't react at al, just stared at her as she began to walk away. "We'll do wonderful. Good night, again!" she called as she walked back towards her wing of the mansion.

Snake waved back, then rubbed his cheek feverishly as he walked back in.

"_Princess lipstick…ughh…"_ he thought as he finished doing his self-cleaning, turned out the lights and got ready for an intense day of fighting.


	5. An Early Morning Proposal

**Sorry for the delay, but I got busy with school. Thanks to everyone who has stuck around, but I also encourage those who do read this but don't review to please post a few words about it. It really does help to increase my work ethic towards this, so remember that as you read the latest chapter. Peace!**

* * *

Snake sat on the edge of his bed, hunched over in thought.

It was 3:00 A.M., and Snake couldn't sleep. How could he? Tomorrow was the start of the tournament, and there was a lot of pressure to win. The 100,000,000 cash prize was very tempting, but that wasn't the only thing he was thinking about. He thought hard about the wildcard: Zelda.

Zelda had been deemed his partner, and it was hard not to worry. She had done _terrible_ in the last tournament, placing 18th out of 25. Was she better? Were Link and Jigglypuff just pushovers?

Snake sighed and walked to his door, going into the hallway. He drifted down the hallway, down the stairs and into the sitting room. He took a seat in one of the extremely comfortable chairs and pulled out the cigarette he had tucked into the fold of his headband back in his room and produced a lighter from his pocket. He lit it and quickly sucked in the precious tobacco, blowing it in rings across the room.

He heard a noise like someone shuffling behind him. He silently rolled off the chair and crouched in front of it, peering over the side. He saw a shadowy figure sitting in one of the other chairs. He quickly got into a good crouching position, and began slowly walking toward the chair.

When he got to a good spot, he stood up, revealing himself. The figure cried out and hopped back, apparently ready to fight. Snake held up his hands, hoping to imply that he meant no harm. He reached for the cigarette in between his lips and held it in front of him, illuminating the person.

It was someone he hadn't seen before. He was dressed similarly to Fox and Falco, a leather jacket on his torso and similar pants on. He had large steel toed boots and noticeable claws coming from his gloved hands. Most noticeably, however, was the eye patch and scar on his left eye.

"Who are you?" Snake asked the figure.

The shadow straightened up and stepped in closer, turning on a lamp that was on an adjacent table. He cleared his throat and spoke,

"My name is Wolf O'Donnell. Your face is familiar…ah, you are Solid Snake."

"_He sounds like Colonel Sanders…maybe he's a chicken salesman?"_

"That's right." Snake replied, taking another drab of his cigarette.

Wolf wrinkled his nose, seemingly annoyed at the smell of the smoke. "Hmm…you're older than I thought you'd be…" he said, noting Snake's graying hair.

Snake already didn't like him. "So what are you doing down here?"

"To be honest, I can't sleep. But I'm not honest, am I? I'll say that I'm slowly contemplating how I'll cut my opponent's flesh in two and eagerly lick it from my claws. How's that?" he growled.

Snake snickered. "So, a bit nervous about tomorrow, are you?"

"Hmm. Perhaps you didn't hear me. I'm not an honest person, so what you heard may have been a lie. Do you trust me?" Wolf said, taking a step forward.

"As far as I can throw you."

"Fair enough. Solid Snake, you and I, were share a common cause." Wolf sat back in his chair, motioning for Snake to sit in the seat across from him. He did so.

"_What's he getting at?"_ "What common cause do we share, Wolf?" he took another drab of his cigarette.

"We are mercenaries. We are doomed to fight with the highest bidder, no matter the cost. There's no offer that I won't refuse if the price is right, and I'm sure you're the same." Wolf calmly stated, crossing one leg over the other.

Snake's face didn't change. "So what's your point?"

Wolf smiled a devious smile and pulled out a small piece of paper from his inside jacket pocket. "This here is the contract for the current job I'm on, and I think you'll be quite interested."

Snake, now interested, put out his cigarette in the cup holder that was in the chair. "What is it?"

"It's from a person who, for now, will remain nameless, but regardless, it states that I will be paid 2,000,000 for bringing him Princess Zelda. Alive. Now, I know that she's your partner, and I know that you know that I will stop at nothing to achieve this goal."

Snake, although Wolf couldn't tell, had begun to nervously shake in his hands. "I see. So where do I come in?"

"Well, Princess Zelda is no pushover, see. She's not going down without a fight. So what I'm suggesting is that we work something out."

"Like what?"

"Like I give you half of the cut, 1,000,000, to throw tomorrow's first fight, losing your three stocks fast so Zelda can take a beating from her two opponents. When that's done, I sneak into her room, I truss her up a bit and I leave. A job well done. I could give a crap about this tournament, hell, my partner has to fight twice in the same day, but this contract is important, and I aim to honor it. You can choose to help me or side against me, but know this: I will do everything in my power to see you fall if you side against me." He finished, a stern look on his face.

He then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a picture of a small man dressed in a white lab coat with glasses on, short grey hair hanging just over the glasses. Also in the picture was an Oriental woman with long, braided black hair who was wearing a green sweater and a black skirt. _"Otacon and Mei-Ling!?"_

Snake didn't say anything, just stood up and began to leave the room. Before he left, Wolf caught up to him.

"I'll give you 'til tomorrow morning. Before you go on, show me a thumbs up or down, depending on your answer. I trust you'll do the right thing, Snake." He said slyly before slinking up the stairs, leaving a stunned Snake to just stand there.

* * *

Somehow, he ended up back in his room, laying on his bed, thinking that there was no way in hell that he would sleep tonight.

"_Damn! I should say no…but I know he meant that he would do anything he could to hurt me…does that include hurting Otacon or Mei Ling? Link, even? What should I do…and I can't just beat him to a pulp before the tournament. Then I'll get disqualified and Zelda's a sitting duck after that…"_

He ran a hand over his head, rubbing to ease the thought of betraying his partner…and then another thought crossed his mind.

"_Why should I even care? I don't really know her…plus, this is a different section of the galaxy, and doesn't really have an effect on me…so what do I care if one of their world leaders gets kidnapped?!"_

Snake quickly shook his head, trying to think of where that thought even came from. He couldn't do that…could he? He'd get some good money out of it and he wouldn't have to stay in the mansion anymore, so that was good. On the other hand, he felt the huge nagging of how much generosity they had shown to him, and how he was about to completely betray any trust they had in him…but what choice did he have? Otacon and Mei-Ling were one of the few people he considered friends, and he would never tell anyone else, but he cared deeply for them, and couldn't bare the thought of anything happening to them…

His stomach churned, and he quickly covered his mouth before rushing into the hallway bathroom that was across from his room and vomited violently into the toilet. He wiped his mouth, quickly flushed the toilet and looked at himself in the mirror. He was pale and quivering, a pathetic look for a so-called "Legend".

"_Why now…the day before the tournament starts! What should I do?!"_


	6. An Important Decision

**

* * *

**

Sorry about the wait! Please read and review, like always!

* * *

"_Alright. Calm down, Snake. This is NOT a big deal. Just call Otacon or Mei Ling, warn them, and be done with it…or what if he already set something up, like a bomb or something?"_

Snake was in quite the pickle. Only 5 hours previous, a menacing mercenary named Wolf had threatened to hurt his two friends if he didn't throw his first match and let his partner, Princess Zelda of Hyrule, to take a beating and then allow her to be kidnapped by the mercenary.

Snake hadn't slept a wink in those 5 hours, and the tournament was nearing closer and closer, with a start time of 10:00 A.M. It was 8:00 A.M. now.

He was a smart man, boasting a 180 IQ and a mastery of 7 languages, but all the scenarios in his head ended up in disaster. How was he going to get out of this?

His thoughts were interrupted when his door was knocked on then quickly opened. Fox stood there, a radar-like device now over his eye, and a pistol strapped to his hip.

"Hey, Snake! So, we're having breakfast downstairs, and they want us at the arena by 9:30, so the buses will be here at 9:00. Might wanna hurry and eat!" he quickly spoke before closing the door and backing out.

Snake sighed and got off his bed, making sure to knock on Link's door to alert him. He decided to forget about the crisis he was in and just eat breakfast and relax, then worry about it later. He walked out his door and saw two unfamiliar faces in the hall.

One was a little kid with a red baseball cap, a purple and yellow striped shirt, shorts and red sneakers. The other was another kid with wacky looking blonde hair and a similar shirt and shorts. They both stared at him as he walked down the hall, not uttering a word.

"_Weird kids…"_ he thought as he walked down the stairs and into the cafeteria, grabbing a plate and filling it with pancakes and sausage and sitting down at his usual table.

Soon enough, Zelda and Link showed up, as did Jigglypuff.

"Good Morning Snake!" Zelda cried, giving him a hug that suddenly reminded him that he had bruised ribs, although they really weren't bothering him too much. _"I knew that Dr. was wrong...it was a giant pink thing with an egg in its pouch! How was that supposed to know what ailment I had_!?".

"Hey, Zelda. Big day today. Feeling up to it?"

"Oh, most definitely. I have a very strong feeling that we will win. Unfortunately, we won't know who we are to go against until we get to the arena later." She revealed.

"I see. How about you Link?"

Link mimed some gestures to Zelda, and then she turned to Snake. "He says he feels confident, although he still aches from yesterday." She translated.

Snake grinned. "Sorry about that. Sit down and get some food."

"Jiffly!" the little puffball cried, whipping out a small microphone, then hopping up on the table right in front of Snake.

"What the hell…"

The thing cleared its throat, but Link suddenly came up and grabbed it, making it puff its cheeks up in anger. Snake was beginning to wonder if it had a really bad singing voice…

* * *

Soon enough, 9:00 came. Snake, dressed in his battle attire, was now entering the large red bus that was to transport them to the arena. He took a seat near the back, and within seconds, Zelda was right next to him, sitting up straight, hands folded in her lap. A true princess.

"Snake…can I tell you something?" she asked, her eyes practically begging.

"Uh, sure, what is it?"

"I'm…scared, Snake. I'm very frightened. What if we have to go against someone like Bowser or Ganondorf in the first round? It's just so…" she sighed and put her face in her hands.

Snake patted her back. "It's okay. I know that it's frightening to not know who your opponent is or how well you'll do, but there's no time to whine or cry about it. We've got a match coming up, and I need you at your fighting best. Can you do it?"

Zelda smiled her beautiful smile. "Yes, yes I can, Snake! We'll do it together!" she said happily, giving Snake's hand a squeeze.

Snake rolled his eyes and resumed looking out the window of the bus.

* * *

The Arena was, for lack of a better word, ginormous. Snake noted that it was about the size of the Yankee Stadium and the Pontiac Silverdome combined. Just a huge, huge building that looks like it could fit well over 100,000 people.

The bus pulled around to the back of the arena, where the combatants were led through a back door into the backstage area, where there was a rest area and a large TV screen where they could watch the matches.

It wasn't much…just some grey walls, about 10 tables and some drinking fountains. It did its job, though.

A mushroom man, who Snake had later found out were called "Toads", got a megaphone and stood up on a chair.

"Uh, excuse me! We're now posting the match ups!" the thing screeched, before turning to the TV.

The TV showed every team's pictures, plus a bracket showing the match ups. Everyone quickly rushed over and looked at the thing, some groaning, some cheering.

Snake said nothing as he looked at his.

_Snake/Zelda vs. Olimar/Wario_

Snake knew Wario. He was pretty hard to forget, the bulging sack of fat he was. He had never seen Olimar, though.

Zelda looked too, grimacing at Wario's name. "Ugh, that filthy pig of a man! Why must we fight him first? Captain Olimar…hmm, I wonder if he's any good…"

Snake turned to Zelda. "Who's he?"

Zelda scanned through the crowd and pointed to a tiny, tiny man who looked like he may have a severely swollen nose. Following him were hot-dog like things with leaves on their heads and a pair of eyes, but no mouth or nose.

"Odd looking guy." Snake commented.

"Oh, he doesn't look so strange. You're probably just not used to people like him." Zelda replied.

Snake shrugged, then looked over at Link, who had a frown on his face. Snake looked up at the bracket and saw that Link had to go against Ganondorf and Bowser.

Zelda noticed it too and quickly went up to Link. "Please, save your temper for the fight, Link. Don't cause a scene, okay?" she quickly whispered to him. Link nodded and eased up the tension in his shoulders.

Snake turned to his left and saw Ganon, sans Bowser, walking towards them, the tall and menacing king taking long strides. Zelda quickly began looking at her feet while Link got a scowl on his face.

"So, Link, we meet in the first round. Can't say I won't enjoy smashing your face into the ground. Reminds me of last year when I did the same thing…" he said, giggling as he did.

Ganon then turned his eye towards Snake. "Ah, the outsider. How are those ribs? Can't be too nice, after a kick like that…"

Snake stood his ground. "Oh, I'll live. Long enough to see you go down by my fist."

Ganondorf laughed again. "What makes you think you'll last long enough to see me in the tournament at all, little man?"

Snake just growled and glared at him, wanting more than anything to just deck the guy in the face and be done with it.

Zelda was still enamored with her feet, and Link definitely wasn't saying anything, so Snake decided he was going to be the diplomat.

"Why don't you go find your partner and go discuss gardening tactics, and leave us the hell alone?" he said none too kindly.

Ganon glared. "Watch your mouth around the King of Evil, Solid Snake. It will only hasten your journey on the path to destruction." He turned around and left after saying this.

Zelda finally looked up and groaned in frustration, "Ugh, I despise him so much! He can never leave me or Link alone…" Zelda pouted.

"Take it easy. Just shake it off, he's just trying to get into your head." Snake advised.

Zelda took three deep breaths, composing herself. Link relaxed a little too.

"I think I need to go eat a small something. Want to join me, Link?" she asked the elven boy, who nodded and walked off to a small catering area on the other side of the room.

Now alone, Snake's thoughts returned to the dilemma he was in with Wolf.

"_Damn! Time's up! I need to think of something quick…call Otacon and warn him or just throw the fight and hurry home…which to do?"_

As Snake quickly put together thoughts in his head, he saw Wolf step out of the crowd and advance towards him. He stopped about a meter from him.

Wolf moved his hand, and Snake saw that he was implying Snake to gesture thumbs up or thumbs down. He knew what he meant.

Snake hesitated about a minute, then answered.

With a resounding middle finger.

Wolf looked shocked, then started growling, his large teeth gnashing in rage. Snake laughed.

"_That's right, Wolf. I''m calling your bluff. That was it the whole time, wasn't it? An empty threat from a two-bit bounty hunter..."_

As Wolf stormed off, Link and Zelda returned.

"Were you talking to Wolf, Snake?" Zelda asked, eating a small cracker she had in her hands.

"Naw. Just giving him a warm welcome…

The Toad took the chair once again.

"Excuse me! We'll now be starting the matches! Will Team Donkey Kong and Team Marth please come up to the curtain!"

* * *

**I know I'm delaying the fight scenes, but I thought this was necessary! Don't lynch me...**


	7. Wario Man Cometh!

**I'm back! I'm SOOO sorry for the wait, but battle scenes are a doozy for the lazy type, such as myself. I hope you like it, true believers!**

* * *

"The Winner is…Team Fox!"

The announcer's voice roused the crowd as Fox scored the final K.O. on Yoshi, effectively eliminating him and his partner Lucario. As the crowd applauded, the winners and losers walked back to more applause from the smashers.

Fox went to Yoshi and gave the dino a hug, then shook the hand of the moody fighting Pokemon. "Good match, you guys. Way to take it to us! Good luck next year!"

Yoshi smiled in response and said his name cheerily. Lucario just nodded, looking dejected.

"Beeeeeeeeeeepppp!!!" spoke up Game and Watch, Fox's partner, who shocked everyone with an incredible 2 stock elimination on both opponents, obviously much improved from last year.

Zelda leaned over to Snake and whispered, "That match is sure to upset the betting community…Game and Watch is so much better than last year…"

Snake nodded in agreement, watching in amazement as G&W consistently broke laws of physics with every step he took, him being 2-D.

The Toad stood up on his chair again and raised his mega-phone again.

"Would Team Snake and Team Wario come forward please?"

Zelda sighed nervously, causing Snake to rub her shoulders. "Don't get nervous, Zelda. C'mon, deep breaths."

Zelda calmed down, then quickly turned around and gave Snake a peck on the cheek.

"For luck." She said quickly, before rushing forward to the entranceway.

Snake rolled his eyes once again and stepped forward, passing Wario.

"Watch out, old man! You'll never know when your numbers up! Gwa-ha-ha-ha!" the fat man taunted him, before passing a bit of gas.

Snake grimaced and waved his hand in front of his face. "Good god!" he gave a dry heave before composing himself and stepping out into the open to the huge roar from the crowd. A couple Toads implied for him to stay back until his name was called.

"Introducing our next contestants…The current ruler of Hyrule, and one of our beloved leaders in the Nintendo Council, give it up for Princess Zelda!"

Zelda gracefully walked down the aisle towards the holographic floor, waving and flashing a 100 watt smile to the crowd. She got into the ring and bowed a bit, driving the crowd wild.

"_Crowd loves her…making me look bad already…"_

"And her partner, our special guest for this doubles tournament! He hails from the mysterious isles of Alaska, and is world renowned for his legendary toughness! Ladies and Gentlemen, Solid Snake!" the announcer boomed to thunderous applause.

Snake, a little shocked by the response, walked out to join his partner standing on the hologram stage. He waved his hand once as he made his way there.

"And introducing the other team…first, from the Mushroom Kingdom, he is the CEO of WarioWare Inc., and currently #7 on the list of the top richest people in the Nintendo System, say hello to Wario!"

Wario rode his bike out, his jean jacket and shirt already looking like they were going to bulge. He flashed his hand signs a couple times, then leapt off his bike, plucking his moustache at Zelda and Snake, who were clearly not intimidated.

"And last, but most certainly not least, folks, Wario's partner. He commands the _S.S. Dolphin_ with pride, and loves his job at the Hoctotate Freight Company, please help me welcome Captain Olimar!"

Snake squinted to see the little man, who looked more than a bit nervous, shivering on his way down, cowering in fear at the huge lights.

He got up next to Wario, who picked him up by the scruff of his suit.

"Listen up, shrimp! I ain't losing today, and we have to make this quick 'cause I still got another match, so don't screw up, got it!?" he barked at the poor spaceman.

Olimar just shook his head. _"Poor guy…too bad he's a little to afraid to stick up for himself…"_ Snake mused as the announcer read the rules.

"Now, each contestant will be given three stock, and there is no time limit! Today's match will take place at the lovely Isle Delfino! Begin on my signal!"

As soon as he said that, the holograms worked their magic, creating a sunny, oceanic paradise all around them. The contestants themselves were standing on a large platform that had three smaller platforms surrounding it. Snake was more than impressed.

Wario laughed and crossed his arms and attempted to touch his toes, in what appeared to be a pre-match warmup exercise. Olimar just shivered, and clenched his fists even tighter, if that was possible..

"Let's achieve victory, Snake!" Zelda cried as she got ready to fight. Snake nodded and got a hand on his grenade, ready to let it fly on the signal…

"3…2…1…GO!!!!!!!"

As the last sound was pronounced, Snake tossed the grenade, and to his shock, Wario straight swallowed it, a tiny explosion happening in his stomach. Snake just stared and gasped for a word.

"Uh…I…duh…buh…."

Wario snickered and charged forward, sliding on the ground with his fingertips extended towards Snake, tripping him up and sending him flat on his face. Wario capitalized by picking Snake up and tossing him off the large platform, laughing at him the whole time.

Zelda, meanwhile, jumped from her platform to the top one, then down to the third one to confront the Captain. Olimar saw this and rolled out of Zelda's magical fist, falling through the floor of the platform and reaching into the ground, suddenly pulling out several Pikmin.

He leapt up and hid Zelda with a red one, stinging her like it was on fire. Wario had easily grounded the recovering Snake with a twirling headbutt and then putting him in his ever expanding mouth and biting him for a bit. Snake and Zelda both landed on the same part of the platform, before that gave way to soft, hot sand.

Snake crawled to his knees, helping the ailing princess next to him to his current position. "Little tough, huh?" he wheezed.

"Yes, indeed. I've an idea…please distract them for a moment." She pleaded, Snake quickly obliging.

He ran towards the duo on the other side of the beach, cartwheeling into them, then pulling out a large mortar launcher he had stashed with him and firing it into the air, hitting them both again.

He looked back to Zelda, and to his surprise, she was gone. Instead, a ninja-like man with piercing red eyes stood behind him. He was covered in a tight fitting blue outfit, with tattered rags of clothing just kind of hanging on.

"Who the hell are you?" he questioned the figure, who dashed past him and flew at the airborne duo.

With amazing speed, the mystery man slapped Wario right in the face, sending him spiraling downwards with all the velocity of a Brett Farve hail mary, and then just as quick thrust his foot back and kicked Olimar, sending him all the way to the other side of the stage. Snake was impressed.

As the two downtrodden partners attempted to recover, Snake congratulated his partner.

"Smooth hits, kid. What'd you do with Zelda?" he said, almost threatening the masked man.

The man giggled, creeping Snake out quite a bit, and then pulled down his mask, revealing Zelda's face.

"Z-Zelda!?" he said, shocked.

She giggled again. "Yep! Just plain 'ol me! But ssshh! I'm Sheik now!" she said before putting the mask back up and pointing behind Snake at a charging Olimar.

Olimar threw a red Pikmin at Snake's face, lighting him ablaze and sending him back a ways. Snake didn't skip a beat, kicking up to his feet with the agility of a man much younger and gave Olimar a knee to the gut before giving him a hammerblow that sent him flying off the platform and towards a knockout.

"Augghh!"

Snake turned at the sound of this shriek, just to see Wario put her in his mouth and chomp on her, then spit her out and give her a wind up punch to the face for a knockout.

Wario turned to Snake and shook his rotund rear end at him…something you plain just don't do to a battle-hardened mercenary. Snake quickly ran up to him while he was doing that and wrapped his arm around Wario's neck, choking him for dear life.

"Aughh…a little harsh, don't cha think!" Wario hacked.

"Not harsh enough!" Snake roared as he hurled Wario behind him just as Olimar and Zel-Sheik landed back on the stage.

The stage now brought them down to five large pieces of land that stood tall out of the water. Snake and Sheik hopped down to one on the far left, while Olimar and Wario landed on the adjacent one.

As Olimar plucked a few more Pikmin, Wario waddled over, his stomach bursting and his skin glowing red. Snake and Sheik just shrugged and went to punch him, but just as they went to connect, he let out a giant, giant fart.

Snake didn't even know how to react, and before he knew it he was coming back down on a little platform, proving that he'd been knocked out.

"_God…that's so horrible!"_

Sheik was winded, and Wario and Olimar took advantage, juggling her in between attacks and then slamming her down into the water. Snake landed just in time to duck a Wario punch, knee him, and then roll backwards just in time to miss Olimar's thrown Pikmin, and retaliate by tossing a grenade at him, scoring a direct hit.

Sheik, in an amazing feat of agility, wall jumped up between the two platforms and and nailed Wario with a twisting kick to the chin, then a strong double kick that knocked him off the side of the stage, giving everyone 2 stock left.

Olimar suddenly got into a groove, rotating like a top and nailing Snake and Sheik, then he threw Pikmin on both of them, which clung to them and bit them, like really big and annoying ants. Wario followed this by kicking both of them, then he started biting Snake, adding insult to injury.

The traveling platform that accompanied the stage came back at this point, and the four fighters hurled themselves up there, starting to get a bit winded. Snake furiously planted a mine in the ground, hoping that would come in handy later, and leapt at his two opponents, Sheik close behind.

A furious Brawl ensued, with neither side getting the better of each other. Both sides were landing a flurry of punches, scratches, kicks, biting, and maybe even a little twisting. Sheik finally scored a major hit by twisting her body in a breakdancer like move on the ground, knocking Wario and Olimar to the far sides of the platform, and lucky for Snake, Olimar landed on the mine that he had planted, sending him high into the air, at which Sheik capitalized by nailing the _coup de gras_ hit and sending him rattling towards a KO.

Olimar was down to one, and things were looking very good for Snake and Zelda when suddenly, a small orb managed to work its way into the picture.

Snake noticed the orb had the traditional Smash Bros. logo on it, but his was glowing very bright, and it intrigued him, to say the least. However, while he and his partner were caught up staring at it, Wario smashed it with his tiny feet, the power seeming to flow from the orb to him. His eyes glowed an ominous yellow, and he laughed a wicked laugh.

Suddenly, his entire body began to twist and girate, until he came back, and he was wearing what looked like a child's render of a superhero costume. It was all purple, including cape and cowl, and it was very tight fitting. Snake just started laughing really loud, while Sheik just politely hid her laugh behind her hand.

The laughter stopped when Wario moved faster than a steaming locomotive and nailed Snake right in the face with a mountain-breaking punch. Snake could literally feel his sinus cavity cracking as he went flying in the air, Sheik suffering a similar fate. As they were both in the air, Olimar came in and used his ultra powerful white Pikmin to hit them both too far to recover, and they were both knocked out.

Now it was THEIR turn to sweat. At one stock left, with Wario still entranced by his super-hero phase, this was not going to be easy. The crowd had begun to frantically rise and cheer with every hit, but now, no one was sitting down. Snake started by landing quick and going after Olimar with a quick roll, and when he was bowled over, Snake gave him a 1-2 straight punch combo, followed by a spinning kick, which put a large dent in Olimar. Sheik had to stay on the defensive, as Wario threatened her position, and she was doing fairly well. Wario, knowing his power was leaving him, had time for one last strike.

He quickly got out his bike, and suddenly, he zoomed forward like a rocket. Snake could only helplessly watch from the upper platform as his partner's fate looked all but decided.

"Zelda!!" he yelled frantically, a feeling of despair taking him over as the bike inched closer and closer…

And suddenly, Wario was rocketing off the stage, and he went too far for him to recover. Snake blinked a few times, before he saw a bright, shining flash where Sheik had once been. He slowly smiled as he realized what had happened:

Right before Zelda was hit, she transformed back, which meant that she would revert into a shell of sorts, and Wario went right through her. Now, she was the fair Princess again, and the score was all tied up.

Olimar quickly hit Snake while he was distracted, and Snake was being blindside by several different varieties of Pikmin, but Zelda helped him by sending a Din's Fire blast into Olimar, distracting him enough for Snake to sweep low(especially on Olimar) and knock him off his feet, which allowed Zelda to come up under him and send a fiery blast through the platform that hurt him bad.

Snake went to finish him, but Wario grabbed his fist as he leaned back and headbutted him in the back of the head, then kicked him way low. Snake's eyes crossed in pain as he collapsed in a heap. He reached to grab Wario, but only got his ankle before Wario kicked him in the mouth, hurting him worse.

As the platform landed in the Sunshine Plaza of Isle Delfino, Zelda was frightened. Her partner was hurt, but she was surrounded by her two opponents, and she only had one stock left! She frantically tried to think of a plan, but no such thing came to mind.

"Alright, shorty! Let's finish it!" Wario said, slapping Olimar on the back obscenely hard, then running right into him as he marched towards Zelda. He only winced in response.

"Light's out, Olimar!" Snake's raspy voice came from behind them. Suddenly, Olimar exploded, and he rocketed towards the sky and out of the arena. The crowd absolutely lost it, exploding with excitement at the now uneven odds.

"How in the world…" Wario was dumbstruck (Although to be honest, he was quite dumb all the time anyways).

"When I grabbed your ankle, you probably didn't feel the C-4 I put on your leg. When you brushed into Olimar, it stuck to him, and it was all over for him. And now it is for you." He growled, pulling seemingly out of nowhere a large, large Stinger missile launcher.

Wario sweated profusely, teeth chattering. He had nowhere to run now. However, Wario was deviously tricky, and he saw one way out. He achieved this by pretending to back into Zelda, and as she went to hit him, he slipped behind her and wrenched her arms behind her back, effectively making her a human shield.

"_Not again…it's…it's no good! I cant' do it!"_ Snake agonized as Zelda struggled to escape Wario's grasp.

"Well, Snake? Can you do it?" he asked, knowing the answer before he even asked.

"Snake, don't worry about me! You can still beat him even if I go! I believe in you!" Zelda frantically cried, realizing she couldn't get out of this. Snake quickly thought of what she said, but suddenly got an idea…

Snake lowered the Stinger in defeat, but just as quick pulled out a box shaped weapon of some sort, smiling the whole time. He fired, but at an upward angle, the missile completely soaring over Wario and Zelda.

"Ha! Aim's a little off, old man! Gwa ha ha!" Wario laughed, thinking he'd be able to capitalize by tossing Zelda and taking out a vulnerable Snake.

However, he should've thought differently, because before he could even turn around in time to dodge, the missile came right back and nailed him in his butt, sending him straight into the air, holding his scorched backside.

Snake quickly pointed at the airborne fat man. "Now Zelda! Finish him!" he yelled. Zelda, now free, nodded and leapt up into the air, kicking him with her trademark lightning kick, which spiked him into oblivion.

Snake's victory cry was drowned out by the amazing roar of the crowd, who clapped and clapped, respecting the victors.

Snake was bent over, hands on knees, trying to catch his breath, when Zelda leapt at him, throwing her arms around his neck, in a celebratory hug.

Snake didn't return it (He wasn't the hugging type, and he never had been), but he kinda rubbed her head, showing that he at least cared. Zelda giggled and held his hand up with hers, a sign of victory.

"The winners are…ZELDA AND SNAKE!!!!!!!!"

Snake and Zelda began their slow march back to the back, limping, but proud that they at least managed to get past the first round.

* * *

**R&R, please!**


	8. A Challenge and a Captive

**Hey, folks! Took a while, but I've got a new chapter up! The next two chapters will be a bit filler, so I implore you to enjoy the story and don't get too upset with me for the lapse in action. Enjoy!**

* * *

"What a day…"

Snake groaned as he smacked the alarm clock that was located on his nightstand and yawned loudly. It was one day removed from the tournament, and he was sore all over, to say the least. He had bite marks, burns, bruises, rashes, scratches and cuts, but damn, was it all worth it!

The feeling he got smacking Wario and Olimar around was something he hadn't enjoyed in a while, and now, he was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, this thing wasn't so bad. Now if only some of the people would go away…

He rolled out of bed and pulled on his glasses, which were actually an interesting story. During the Shadow Moses incident he was involved in, he was severely hurt in the eyes from an overexposure to sunlight and a lot of explosions that blinded him, so he was forced to wear glasses to see things far away. He hated it, but he always had contacts, so he lived with it.

He went to the bathroom and started brushing his teeth when he heard the door across from his open. He turned around to see Link, looking depressed and worn out. Snake felt bad, as Link, in a heartbreaker, lost to Ganon and Bowser, and the defeat weighed heavily on the guy.

Snake spit out the toothpaste and washed his brush, setting it down so he could talk to Link.

Snake clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, kid. How're you holding up?"

Link looked dejected, but managed a small smile and a nod.

Snake realized he was still beat up about the whole thing. "I know it hurts to lose, kid, but you're still young, so don't worry…there'll be another Super Smash Brothers tournament."

Link nodded and looked a little happier, which satisfied Snake. Link pointed out the door and Snake nodded, so they went out into the hall. As they were coming out, they saw Red, the Pokemon Trainer, step out into the hallway, his three Poke-Balls on his belt. He saw Snake and Link as they passed by.

"Hey, great job yesterday, guys!" he smiled as they passed by.

Snake couldn't help but admire the kid's cheeriness. "Thanks, kid. Why don't you come join us?"

"Okay!" he said as he fell in line with the two smashers. Snake was secretly glad that Red didn't bring his partner, Wolf, along with him.

They walked downstairs and into the dining room, where Zelda and Jigglypuff were already sitting at their usual table.

Zelda waved excitedly to her partner, and as he sat down she happily embraced him, Snake once again not returning it.

"Good morning, Snake! Wasn't yesterday just incredible?" she asked him.

"Yeah, it was pretty good. You did pretty good out there, Zelda." He responded.

Zelda blushed and put her hands in her lap. "W-well, after last year, I tried very hard to become better…"

"And what or who was that Ninja guy?" Snake asked.

"That is Shiek. It's a disguise I often use when I need to leave the palace. She's quite the formidable fighter!"

"Well, whatever it is, keep using it, because it's working."

Zelda then moved to Link.

"Link, sweetheart, I'm so sorry about yesterday…those two bullies do not deserve to be in this tournament!" She gripped his hand and Link returned the squeeze.

"Don't worry, Link. I'm sure those guys will get what's coming to them." Red spoke up.

Zelda noticed him and smiled. "Hello, Red! You did splendid yesterday!"

Now it was Red's turn to turn…red. "Heh heh, thanks!"

Jigglypuff slowly hugged Link's head, whose face either showed confusion or acceptance, depending on who you asked. At that point, everyone but Snake left to get food, who Zelda promised she'd get an extra tray for.

"Looks like Zel really likes you, old man." Snake heard a female voice, and he leaned his seat back to see Samus sitting at the table across from them, wearing blue silk pajama bottoms and an orange tanktop that showed her midriff. Her hair was let loose and it fell to her back.

"Hey Samus." He said kindly. Not many knew, but Snake and Samus had actually worked together a few times in the past, when Snake was trying to find the source of some interdimensional holes in his world, and they got along quite swimmingly.

"Snake, before you get any ideas, that girl's only 17, so you watch yourself."

"You make it sound like I'm attracted to her..."

Samus raised an eyebrow. "How do I know you aren't?"

"Touché, but I'm not, so don't worry about it." Snake groaned.

"Alright. Good luck tomorrow, you're gonna need it." Samus encouraged him, patting his shoulder.

"You too, Samus." He replied before seeing Zelda and the rest of the crew coming back with his food. Snake noticed Samus was sitting by herself.

"Why don't you join us? You seem so lonely."

"I'm actually waiting for Doug-er, Captain Falcon, so I'm fine, but thank you." She kindly replied. Snake shrugged and turned to his table.

"So, Red, how is Wolf as a partner?" Zelda asked the young trainer.

"Moody! All he did was bark orders at me, then didn't even talk to me after the match! I wish I had someone else..." Red sighed.

"Don't worry about him, Red. Wolf may look tough, but he's really just a punk, so just make you stick up for yourself around him, and he'll back off." Snake answered, looking over at the table Wolf was sitting at, where he was joined by King Dedede, Bowser and Ganondorf.

"Thanks, Mr. Snake. Hey, by the way, Lucario was looking for you." Red told Snake.

"Really? What for?"

"I'm not sure, he just said he wanted to talk to you."

Snake nodded and made sure he'd go see him after breakfast. After every day of competition, they had one day's rest to fully recharge their energy. Snake had been looking forward to a relaxing day of reading in the huge and lush courtyard that the Mansion had.

* * *

The gang finished eating and then went their separate ways. Snake went up to Lucario's room, and his roommate answered.

"Hey, Captain." Snake said as Falcon answered the door.

"Mornin', Snake. Good job yesterday...wish I coulda had the same luck..."

"Don't worry, Cap, we all have our off days. Is Lucario around?"

"Oh, yeah, he's right in here." Falcon replied, stepping back to reveal the room which was very similar to Snake and Link's. Snake went in and Lucario was hovering slowly above the ground, apparently meditating.

"Uh...Lucario?" Snake asked, trying to get his attention.

Lucario looked up, only his head moving. "Salutations, Solid Snake. I see the trainer has related my message to you."

"Yeah. What is it you wanted to see me about?"

Lucario stopped hovering and got to his feet, looking deep into Snake's eyes. "Unfortunately, since I was eliminated from the tournament yesterday, I will not have the honor of meeting you in combat. However, since today is a free day, I would like to request that you meet me in the meadow outside the mansion for a fight. No weapons, only the weapons that you are naturally blessed with."

Snake just took in his offer. He really wanted to just relax and read...but he remembered the feeling he had gotten yesterday, and he knew that that was a much better feeling then reading would ever be.

"I accept. When do you wanna do this?"

"1:00 P.M. Don't be late." The jackal growled before sitting back down to meditate.

As Snake turned to leave, he heard Falcon sound almost giddy.

"Oh, I can't wait to see this! I'd better spread the word..."

* * *

Zelda was walking alone in the dormitory corridors, admiring the view from the multiple windows and happy thoughts from the morning still in her mind. She would never tell the two other girls that were her roommates, but she really, really admired Snake, and hoped that one day, he would realize that. She sighed as she realized she shouldn't think of unattainable goals.

As she was walking, she noticed a large shadow begin to follow hers. Pretty soon, she stopped dead in her tracks and turned around, eager to see who was following her. She soon wished she didn't.

"Hello, Princess. Might I have a moment of your time?"

"W-wolf...what is it?"

"Oh, nothing much...would you mind coming with me?"

"I-I really can't...I have something to-to do..." Zelda was frightened, as he had quite the menacing look in his eyes.

Suddenly, Wolf ran up and grabbed her, wrapping his hand around her mouth and another around her waist. He then began to growl into her ear.

"Don't worry...I can't do anything to you while I'm here. But I have a little business proposition for you, and some associates of mine would also like to share some ideas. You'll hear us whether you want to or not!"

Zelda screamed, but it was for naught as Wolf easily dragged her to a window and opened it. Zelda began to cry as Wolf leapt out the window and carefully walked on the awning to where he could leap to the lower floor, at which he did. He then carefully sneaked by the windows on the lower floor and to a partially covered door. He brushed the vines aside and opened it.

Inside, there was a few gardening supplies and some other equipment used to take care of the extensive lawn. Wolf tossed Zelda to the floor, where she saw a pair of boots and taloned feet in her eyesight. She looked up and her eyes widened.

"If it isn't my old friend, Princess Zelda...how's Link? Still bruised from yesterday?" Ganondorf laughed as Bowser helped her off the ground.

"Now we gotta talk business..."

* * *

**As always, read and review, True Believers!**


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